One potential limiting factor in gas turbine engines may be the stability of the compression system. In that regard, greater stability in the compression system support improved engine operation. The stability of the compression system in a gas turbine engine may be limited by both the engine operating conditions and stall capability of the compressor. In some compressors, the initiation of a stall may be driven by the tip leakage flow through the tip clearance between an airfoil and the outer diameter of the compressor. The detrimental characteristics of tip leakage flow may predominantly be from reverse tip leakage flow, that is, tip leakage flow moving aft to forward.
Alterations to improve compressor stability by increasing the stall margin, for example, typically result in reduced engine efficiency. Casing treatments, such as geometric modifications of the walls of a compressor case, may have resulted in reduced engine efficiency in previous applications.